Checking the oil level in automobile crank cases typically has been performed by gasoline service station attendants upon request of an automobile driver, or routinely done and frequently cited as a test of good service by a service station. This task, requires the locating of the dip stick, typically positioned in a tubular holder connected to an engine crank case, the dip stick provided to measure the oil level in the crank case by removal of the dip stick to check the oil level indicated thereon by first wiping the crank case oil from the dip stick with a rag, relocating the tubular holder and reinserting the dip stick in the tubular holder. Typically the tubular riser has a small orifice and due to the small size of the orifice of the holder and its inaccessibility in the engine space typically poorly illuminated, return of the dip stick typically is a two handed operation for the operator, one hand to hold the dip stick handle and the second to hold the oil encased end of the dip stick for insertion into the orifice of the tubular holder. The task exposes the person handling the dip stick to the risk of having their hands and apparel dirtied and stained with oil dropped from the dip stick in the process of handling the oil dip stick withdrawing and reinserting.
Support apparatus for dip sticks are described in various U.S. Pat. Nos. as follows: 2,855,682, issued Oct. 14, 1958 directed toward an oil dip stick wiper having two spring arms for movement between a normal position and a wiping position; 3,591,886, issued Jul. 13, 1971 directed toward a dip stick wiper attachment consisting of a tubular pliant wiper to be manually squeezed into engagement with the dip stick as its withdrawn from the fluid reservoir; 4,017,935, issued Apr. 19, 1977 showing a dip stick cleaner for use with a dip stick including a means for attachment of the device to the dip stick tube including a cleaning portion having a slot for receiving the dip stick; 4,154,105, issued May 15, 1979 which discloses a orientable temperature indicator device for use in monitoring the condition of lubricating oil of motorcycles and recreational vehicles; 4,155,167, issued May 22, 1979 showing a dip stick guide having a housing with an enlarged funnel mounted in fixed relationship with a tube having a spring loaded movable guide element movable along the longitudinal axis of the funnel; 4,233,704, issued Nov. 18, 1980 showing an oil dip stick cleaning device having a support to hold and contain a pad of rubber like cleaning material; 4,419,781, issued Dec. 13, 1983 showing a dip stick wiper apparatus, showing a housing to be attached to a dip stick tube containing a body of wiping material including a slot; 4,510,690, issued Apr. 16, 1985 showing a dip stick guide for automobile engines having a cylindrical housing including a split seam having a curved funnel-like opening, the split seam being segmented for movement radially outwardly having an elastic rubber sleeve; 4,640,126, issued Feb. 3, 1987, showing a device for measuring oil levels in internal engines adapted to remain in the oil filling opening of an engine even during filling; 4,780,925, issued Nov. 1, 1988 showing an attachment for a tube of an engine having a block of resilient material such as foam against which the dip stick is pushed as it is withdrawn from the crank case; 4,860,401, issued Aug. 29, 1989 disclosing a dip stick wiper having a first and second through passage way. None of the prior art devices suggests to one skilled in the art the novel features of the present invention.
As modern automobiles have become more streamlined with resultant compacting of engine spaces already cramed with pollution control devices, holder tubes for oil and other engine fluid measurement have become more and more inaccessible and more difficult to locate by the user and measuring rods or dip sticks have increased in length and become more difficult to manipulate with the result that use of such rods or dip stick has become more difficult.
Perhaps the most notable development has been the proliferation of self service gas stations, wherein drivers pump their own gas to receive a discount for the gas and as a result do not receive the services of a gas station attendant for services such as measuring of the oil or other engine fluids by means of a dip stick. In such service stations, now, a car owner, man or woman, must personally attend to the checking of fluid levels including oil levels in the crank case, typically in business attire or in expensive casual clothes, neither of which a car operator wishes to spoil with engine dirt and oil in the process of checking for oil by checking for the fluid oil on a dip stick and returning the stick to its normal position.
It is desirable to provide for a new and improved dip stick guide apparatus and method whereby the dip stick guide apparatus is attached to a dip stick holder and the dip stick may be rapidly and accurately moved from an inserted position to a disengaged display position and returned to the inserted position under adverse light conditions, and by means of one handed operation to provide for quick manipulation of the dip stick without soiling the hands or clothes of the operator and to overcome at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art dip stick guide apparatus and methods.